Learning On The Job

I dropped in on a grade 8 science class a few days ago. Students were using temperature probes to collect data every few seconds and getting real-time heating and cooling curves directly onto their tablets! This is nothing like how I remember science class…

Using Temperature Probes

Collecting Real-Time Data

There are a few other probes you can use (motion and pressure sensors are two I can think of off the top of my head) and they can be used in math class as well.

I think these are awesome! It allows the students to focus on the science and lets the the technology focus on the data collection and graph creation. I know the latter two are important skills, but would you rather your students spend an hour transcribing the data and creating the correct graph or use that same hour to investigate the scientific principles at work? If used properly, I think technology such as this can maximize the effective contact time that teachers spend with students and that students spend with learning.

I appreciate the cool stop-motion animation. I mean, it’s really cool, right? But…

Does SMART Technologies really think a Magical Classroom looks like this?

Straight rows, hands up, wait to be called on, one person talking at a time. That’s not magic; that’s a step backwards! Where is the collaboration? Where is the group dynamic? Where is the problem solving? Where are the messy bits? We don’t have any IWBs at our school so I want to know: Is this how you use them in your school?

(To be fair, sometimes I feel like we’re using our tablets in a similar way, at times: new tools, same pedagogy. Where’s the magic in that?)